Driver Coaching Drives Profit

Delivering around half a million litres of diesel daily to outback Queensland customers requires more than the best equipment and good management. So we sent Howard Shanks to the coal fields in Queensland’s Bowen Basin to find out how K&S Energy’s Driver Coaching program drives profit and safety.

Most of Mackay is still sleeping when the elevator bell dings its arrival at the fifth floor of the inner city motel a little after 3.30 in the morning. K&S Energy’s QLD Driver Assessor-Trainer, Darryl Menzies, steps into the elevator and pushes the button for the ground floor.

On the short drive to their North Mackay depot, Darryl explained that although their operations in Gladstone and Mackay predominantly service mining customers, a large portion of the business also deliver fuels to city and rural service stations.

“Our trucks will deliver approximately 400,000 litres of diesel into the Goonyella Riverside Mine today,” Darryl said. “That’s where we are heading this morning. However, when they (Goonyella) get busy, that figure can go as high as half a million litres per day.”

The Goonyella Riverside mine is one of seven Central Queensland BMA mines producing approximately 11 million tonnes of coking coal annually, which is transported via rail to Hay Point and Dalrymple Bay ports for export to over 78 customers in 28 countries.

To understand how this mine site consumes such a large quantity of diesel, we need to take a quick look through the Caterpillar performance book. It is a handy book designed predominately for job costing estimation. For example, edition 38 – for the diehard train spotters – reveals that a Caterpillar 789C, a mid-range rear dump truck with approximately a 170-ton payload, will consume 70-106 litres per hour under low load to 142-180 litres per hour under high load.

Therefore, one of these massive machines will easily devour approximately 1800 litres per 12-hour shift, the larger 350-ton machines even more. At the time of writing, the mine supervisor said he could see 36 of these sizeable rear-end dump trucks operating on his screen, and mind you, that didn’t include the contractor’s vehicles. So it’s little wonder that K&S Energy has a steady stream of B-Double tankers feeding the massive diesel storage tanks at Goonyella Riverside Mine.

At the depot, Todd Taylor, driver trainer for the Mackay operation, had checked over the Kenworth T610 and loaded the tankers with approximately 50,000 litres of diesel ready for the 230-kilometre early morning run west to the Goonyella Riverside Mine.

Darryl’s role is multifaceted. Firstly, he conducts training for all new drivers entering the company to ensure they are competent in all aspects of the operation before being allowed to perform fuel deliveries solo. Another aspect of his role is to audit drivers to ensure all procedures are followed and provide training on any process updates.

Today, he aimed to provide procedure updates to Todd and coaching guidance so that Todd could pass this knowledge on to others in the Mackay operation.

“Over the past decade, the technology in trucks has taken a quantum leap forward,” Darryl explained. “Look around our yard here, and you’ll quickly see that the average age of our drivers is well into the mid-fifties. Overall, they are good drivers, but you must remember that trucks were operated entirely differently back when most of these guys commenced their driving career.”

“However, if they drive one of these new T610’s like the trucks they drove a few decades ago, then we wouldn’t be able to get the economic benefits of the new technology in these vehicles,” Darryl revealed. “So, while I’m doing audits and providing training, I’m also delivering driver coaching.”

“Driver coaching differs somewhat from driver training in that it provides ongoing support to the driver on a regular basis to help them understand the new technologies and develop better driving and work practices that promote reduced fuel usage with more economical use of the vehicle and fewer driver errors,” Darryl explained.

Darryl concedes that careless mistakes are an unnecessary cost to any transport company and, in most cases, can be avoided simply by taking more care when performing the tasks.

“In some cases, these careless mistakes can cost a transport company as much as ten per cent per month,” Darryl said. “Thankfully, in our company, this is not the case as it is something that we monitor and work closely with our drivers to ensure that this gets kept to a minimum.”

“You only have to watch some of the clowns on “Outback Truckers” to see how quickly careless mistakes cost a trucking company money,” I mused.

“Fuel at 35 per cent of our operating costs is our next biggest expense, followed by finance at 25 per cent, then salaries, tyres, R&M and admin,” Darryl continued. “You can see that if we can shave a few per cent off our fuel costs, that is a big saving off our operating costs compared to the other expenses in the pie.”

Darryl believes that with the correct specification, driver training, coaching, and maintenance, it is possible not only to reach but exceed the typical fleet target value, which is where we start to realise our most significant savings.

“These new Kenworth T610s with the Cummins X15, ADEPT and the Ultrashift are cutting edge machines that tick all the boxes for the correct specification for optimum economy and payload advantage in our operation,” Darryl said.

“The next step is to fine-tune our driver training and coaching,” Darryl continued. “If we get our drivers operating the equipment efficiently, we see a comparative reduction in our repair and maintenance costs.

“We start with a reference value of what the vehicle is currently recording – the average fuel consumption and other parameters get recorded, such as harsh braking, harsh acceleration, idling time, driving outside the green band and coasting. Typically, we find these parameters will be quite high before the training and coaching development starts,” Darryl revealed.

“Take idling time, for instance. At idle (600RPM), the Cummins X15 uses 1.8-2.2 litres per hour. Tap the cruise control button and bump the engine up to fast idle, and the usage rises to 3.9-4.2 litres per hour. So, if we have a driver who pulls up at a roadhouse for their half-hour fatigue break and sets the fast idle going while they’re in the roadhouse for 30 minutes, they have burnt approximately two litres of diesel for that period. That is roughly $3’ worth of fuel. They will do that in the yard while they get ready and multiply that by two fatigue breaks. Suddenly, it has cost us $9 per shift just in idle time. Add that up over the number of trucks in our fleet, and the final number is a significant figure.”

“With the Cummins ADEPT equipped T610s, we get free kilometres when the truck is coasting,” Darryl explained. “We spend time explaining how this works and going with the drivers to teach them how to get the maximum amount of coasting. It’s all about encouraging the drivers to get as many free kilometres as possible.”

Anticipation is another area that Darryl works on; if we can get our drivers to anticipate better what will happen ahead of them. For instance, another considerable saving is getting off the throttle a little earlier approaching corners and roundabouts, so they don’t need to stand on the brakes. “It cost roughly $15,000 to reline the brakes in one of our B-Double,” Darryl added.

“With the efficiency of the Kenworth T610 and B-double combinations combined with the driver coaching, we are seeing a ten per cent saving in fuel,” Darryl revealed. “This equals a fuel saving of $65.68 per truck per shift. Multiply our six T610 B-Doubles, and that’s $394.08 per shift we are saving on fuel. In a week, we’ve saved $2,758.56 (which equates to half of one truck payment per week). So over a year working 48 of the 52 weeks, we have saved $132,419.88 just in fuel alone.”

“On top of the fuel saving, we also save on R&M and get increased vehicle utilisation as the trucks are lasting longer with fewer breakdowns,” He added.

“Remember, these savings are only based on the Mackay operation,” Darryl said. “It becomes even more significant when you start adding up the savings we can realise over all our depots. Sadly, however, not all our operations run these state-of-the-art Kenworth T610s, so the challenge is considerably harder in some areas to achieve the same results.”

When asked if he has plans to achieve even more economy and how he’ll go about it, Darryl was quick to add that to advance to the next level. He can see that a more realistic driver reward system is the answer to achieving even greater savings. Because the driver has the most significant influence and is making the more extensive effort, so understandably, we should reward them for their effort, he said.

“The other aspect we will look at is fine-tuning the vehicle spec even further to best suit each job,” Darryl said. “Currently, our truck spec is broad, enabling truck allocation throughout the fleet based on vehicle demand. Although out here in western Queensland, the new gear-down specification might help shave a few additional per cent off the fuel usage, but only time will tell how that will go.”

At the time of writing, these Kenworth 610 B-Doubles had clocked up an average of 400,000 trouble-free kilometres and work around the clock with two drivers doing 12-hour shifts each.

“Driver Coaching is the way of the future if we want to remain profitable,” Darryl concluded. “We invest significant money in driver coaching and training to ensure our staff are highly skilled, and the business unit is operating safely and sustainably going forward.”